Dislikes Are A Funny Thing · 3:37pm Jul 31st, 2015
I've been writing for 10 years. I've been flamed, certainly. Sometimes, in hindsight, they were onto something; another author correctly pegged an early Yugioh fic of mine as "a self-insert with the author as his own Villain Sue," and it was. By comparison, folks here are usually pretty pleasant even when stating they didn't like something I wrote. The closest thing to a flame I've gotten here still wasn't really a flame, just a commenter being rather rude and vocal in their dislike of the story; for privacy's sake I'll not mention who or the story.
So you can imagine bemusement when I come online about 3 hours after my latest update, and find the story has rapidly acquired an additional 4 dislikes. In 3 hours. Perhaps someone is socking to troll me? Maybe. Or maybe in that span of time four people read my story and didn't like it. Or whatever was in this update pissed four previous readers off.
Dislikes really don't mean much to me. Something as simple as "I don't like this story" isn't going to keep me up. I'm not Frasier Crane, obsessing over that one guy in the twelve-person focus group who didn't like me. Really, dislike of any media, IMHO, can be broken down into two types. Either they found legitimate problems with the media that the creator should keep in mind moving forward, or their opinions are so poorly formed and expressed that their approval or disapproval is a non-factor. The former is how we get constructive criticism; the latter is how we get YouTube. *rimshot*
So, on the off chance the four dislikers are reading this, I've a humble request; tell me why. You can do it in PM and I'll keep confidentiality. Perhaps you found a glaring problem with my story that I need to fix immediately. Humor me and just drop me a line letting you know what was wrong for you.
Sorry for my bluntness, but quit complaining. Half my fics got shut down almost instantly by throngs of people. Considering the success seen by the other two, most of those downvotes are probably attributed to dislike of the subject matter, and not a lack of writing quality. In conclusion, some bronies simply aren't as accepting as others. Just ignore them, you'll feel better.
3284547 I'm not complaining, and I'm not upset. I'm curious. A dislike happens for a reason, I wish to know why.
3284633
Well, I got nothing. Your thing be good.
You forgot the third type: It's not their cup of tea.
3284666 True
3284673 I still don't get the point of disliking a story just because the author wrote something you don't like. I'm not particularly fond of humans in Equestria stories, but I don't go around commenting on those stories either. I just ignore them and wait for them to go away. Or check them out if they actually are good.
Your story appeared among the featured ones just after the update.
With the better visibility you've probably also attracted some troll.
Awh, why didn't you wait for me to get back from my holiday to go over the chapter? There might just be something in it that annoyed people.
3285019 Nah. Just the CMC.